OnOctober29,2011,atragicaccidentatBartlettGrainsAtchisongrainelevatorclaimedsixlivesand seriouslyinjuredtwoothers.Theundistortedfactsareclear: BartlettGrainsemployeesranamodelfacilityinAtchisonthatputsafetyfirst. Aftertheaccident,BartlettGrainhasdoneeverythingpossibletounderstandwhathappened. BartlettGrainisdedicatedtoemployeesafetyandhasalongrecordofcompliancewithOSHA regulations.PriortotheAtchisonaccident,OSHAhadnotissuedasinglewillfulorrepeat citationtoanyBartlettGrainfacility. BartlettGrainhasanexcellentsafetyrecord,receivinganaverageoflessthanoneaffirmed OSHAcitationperinspection(50%belowtheaverageofitsindustrypeers)overthepast10 years.Infact,ofthe50largestgraincompaniesintheUnitedStates,onlyfourhavefewer affirmedcitationsperinspectionthanBartlettGrain. BartlettsAtchisongrainelevatoroperatedsevendaysaweekduringharvestjustlikeother grainelevatorsintheMidwestinordertoallowthousandsoffarmerstobringtheirgrainto market. OnApril12,2012,OSHAissuedcitationsinresponsetotheaccidentattheAtchisonelevator.

onelevator.Itwas cleartous,andBartlettGrainstatedimmediately,thatOSHAscitationswereflawedanddidnoteven allegearelationshiptotheexplosion.Intheyearfollowingtheaccident,BartlettGrainbroughtina teamofthecountrysmostknowledgeableengineersandexplosionexperts,andtheirextensive investigationsconcludedthatOSHAscitationswerenotonlymistakenbut,infact,thosefindingscould nothavecontributedtotheaccident. BartlettGrainanticipatedandunderstoodwewouldhaveanopportunitytoproveallofthistoOSHA. Ateverystage,however,OSHAdeclinedtodiscusstheirallegationswithBartlettGrain.Ultimately,on theeveofamandatorymediationatwhichBartlettGrainfinallywouldhavehadachancetodiscussthe meritsofOSHAsallegations,OSHAputthematteronholdandmadeitsreferraltotheU.S.Attorneys officebasedonstandardpolicy. BartlettGrainhasmetwiththeU.S.AttorneysOfficesincethatreferral,asisstandardpractice,andhas pledgeditscompletecooperation.BartlettGrainrespectstheconfidentialnatureoftheinquiryand, thus,cannotpubliclydiscussthismatterfurtheruntiltheU.S.AttorneysOfficehascompletedtheir review. BartlettGrainhasdoneeverythinginitspowertolearnthetruthaboutthisaccident.Wewillcontinue toattempttosharethisinformationwiththeproperauthorities,andwelookforwardtoprovingthat theOSHAallegationsareuntrueandunfounded.

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